Ask about "IKUKO" - you'll get niks: the deputy talked about unaccounted budget expenses.

      In most cases, the activities of organizations remain outside the control of our regional government, and deputies are often not provided with answers to the questions posed. Although the funds we allocate—in the form of subsidies to various non-profit organizations—exceed one billion rubles per year, said Albert Bikalyuk.

      Nevertheless, despite citing numerous examples of overly loose handling of regional funds, and perhaps landing himself with as many criminal articles and potential suspects, Albert Alexandrovich was only constrained to respond with a remark from the Presidium of the Legislative Assembly about the "exceeding of the time limit allocated for speeches" in the "miscellaneous" section.

      When Bikalyuk proposed "immediate кадровые решения ( personnel decisions) regarding regional leaders," otherwise the thesis of "zero tolerance for corruption" (author Alexander Sokolov) could be considered a deception, a "golden whirlwind" of orders and medals rained down on the heads of those very officials.

      Thus, the deputy's speech, already informally dubbed "Albert's hurricane," passed without any consequences, causing no physical or mental harm, and no moral suffering to those whom the народный избранник (people's representative) spoke about or addressed.

      Lemons were flying—no one counted.

      So, Albert Alexandrovich, mentioning the "Institute of Corporate Governance of the Kirov Region" (IKUKO), supposedly established by presidential order but lacking any confirmation besides the personal directive of the governor, stated that he demanded four times a financial report on the institute's activities. Since no one is aware of the 20 million rubles allocated last year (and the fate of 16 million this year), designated for the existence of "IKUKO" as an "important structure for training and preparing managerial personnel," he said:

      "I requested a report for 2024 on the activities of this NGO four times. All I received were vague plans for the coming years."

      As the deputy explained to Newsler.ru in an interview not limited by regulatory frameworks, there is no interest in how the 20 million rubles were spent, because the existence of the "Institute" implies some educational process, training, and practical activities, all confirmed by diplomas and subsequent employment or career growth of the instantly sought-after specialists.

      While it is impossible to evaluate "IKUKO's" work from outside, the chaotic management reshuffling of ministries and subordinate agencies still does not look like a well-thought-out кадровая политика (personnel policy). More like a sudden underwear swap ("week" — a set of seven identical but differently colored briefs).

      Albert Bikalyuk also drew attention to the funding of private kindergartens, which receive 89 million rubles annually, although no one is interested in their activities or financial reporting. Only once, and very swiftly, did the government react to his statement that one of the kindergartens for several years—including during the SVO period—"operates under the British flag, excluding all Russian attributes."

      And while teaching English to preschoolers is more welcomed than condemned, doing so under the cover of the red-and-white crosses of the British flag is extremely unpatriotic—especially when British shells are falling on Russian heads.

      Although eight thousand people have read the article on Newsler.ru titled "Private kindergarten attended by the governor's son receives 15 million rubles annually from the budget" (from June 17), no answers were provided to questions about where and how the money is spent at the kindergarten, where parents pay 30,000 rubles monthly.

      "Due to uncontrolled and short-sighted management," Bikalyuk believes, "the Capital Repair Fund was driven to bankruptcy: a month ago, 320 million rubles were allocated to the Fund. I requested a cash flow plan for this year. Silence in response."

      For organizing and conducting the "Russia" exhibition at VDNH, according to the audit report, only two million rubles were spent on "food for organizers." The deputy continues:

      "And who will agree to provide a report if a significant part of the funds went on 'alcoholic beverages'?"

      Meanwhile, the hungry children from Kirov, who performed at the cultural program, were taken by their mothers to a chiburek-style cafe to eat.

      "Last year, 150 million rubles were allocated for developing sports teams (NGOs), and this year—so far—just over a hundred million. Since August last year, I have been corresponding with Minister Sulik and Deputy Kurdyumov, requesting financial reports on subsidy expenditures. All responses focus solely on... the importance of sports development. Meanwhile, the sports minister, allocating 125 million rubles, does not even know who the founder of the 'Rodina' team is."

      Bikalyuk paid special attention to the "tourism sphere." According to him, KOGAÜ "Center for Tourism Development" and NGO "Directorate for Organizing the 650th Anniversary"—led by Alexey Cheptsov (his predecessor, later deputy Ruslan Mamedov, has been under investigation for five months)—were allocated property and financial resources totaling over half a billion rubles in 2023-2024. Violations totaling 152 million rubles were revealed:

      "Three hundred and eighty procurement procedures totaling 105 million rubles were conducted without competition and without even a ruble of cost savings. Property worth 130 million rubles was not accepted for accounting and is not reflected in reports (with a monument to Alexander Nevsky and the gates of the Russian North running around unmanaged). Nearly two million rubles of regional budget funds were spent on food and alcohol. Salary payments were made manually on drafts filled with numerous corrections and strikethroughs. Databases of accounting data for the past two years and some primary documents have been lost..."

      And if no one in Bikalyuk’s speech has yet counted a potential dozen criminal cases and their suspects, then it makes sense to question the activities of the regional Ministry of Finance. At least at the simplest level: how does the chief financial body of the region manage to produce reports that only contain scrawled papers with salaries marked? Or does the law allow that, in case of lost documents, annual reports can be submitted solely based on the regional head’s, sector’s curator’s, or NGO leader’s word?

      Moreover, until the Investigative Committee and Prosecutor's Office are interested in the fate of 550 million "tourism rubles," neither Albert Bikalyuk nor Newsler.ru will be able to determine whose signature appears on financial reports, where discrepancies in rubles and kopecks, then in millions and billions, are still considered (as the people believe) a matter for the court.